ID:Q6 Trouble-shooting Stealth
Quarterdeck Technical Note #205
by the Quarterdeck Compatibility Dept.

TROUBLE-SHOOTING STEALTH

This document discusses how to diagnose and cure problems
occasioned by the use of the Stealth feature of QEMM-386, version 6.
All users should review the readq.me file that comes with QEMM-386,
version 6 for additional information.

FIRST STEP
The first step is to ascertain whether Stealth is involved with the
problem. Remove the Stealth parameter (ST:M or ST:F) from the QEMM-386
line of the config.sys. Reboot the computer and try to duplicate the
problem. If the problem still happens then Stealth is not causing the
problem and you must address the problem by the means explained in the
troubleshooting section of the QEMM-386 manual.

SECTION 1

SECOND STEP
If Stealth is involved in the problem restore the Stealth
parameter (ST:M) and add XST=F000. Reboot the computer. If this
works, go to the third step; if this does not work, go to Section
Two. On this step the QEMM-386 line of the config.sys should look
something like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m xst=f000

THIRD STEP
If XST=F000 solves your problem replace it with X=F000-FFFF,
reboot and try again. The QEMM-386 line of the config.sys should
look something like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=f000-ffff

If this works, add the parameter FSTC to the qemm line, thusly:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=f000-ffff fstc

and reboot. If this works continue; if this does not work (and
FSTC may not work in all circumstances) then remove the FSTC
parameter and reboot with the previous QEMM-386 line. See the
section about FSTC below for an explanation of FSTC.
In either case, enter Manifest and look at the QEMM-
386/Analysis screen. Look at the last line: It should look
something like this:

Fn00 IIII IIII IIII IIOO

The portions of the address space with the O in them are being
accessed directly. Some program or piece of hardware is trying to
read the contents of the ROM here directly, not merely access them
through interrupts. This portion of the address space must be
allowed to be accessed directly. This is done by excluding QEMM-386
from mapping this area. In this case the target region is FE00-
FFFF. The appropriate Exclude is X=FE00-FEFF. The correct QEMM-
386.SYS line of the config.sys is:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=fe00-ffff

This Exclude allows Stealth to do its job and costs you only 8K of
high address space.

FOURTH STEP
If XST=F000 solves your problem while X=F000-FFFF does not then
you should try using ST:F instead of ST:M. You may get more high
ram with ST:F than with ST:M XST=F000.

SECTION TWO

This section is only for users with video ROM. Hercules-compatible
monochrome and CGA systems do not have video ROM and thus this section
does not apply. Some machines have their video ROM elsewhere, usually
E000-E7FF. Such users should use E000 (or wherever their video ROM
begins) instead of C000.

FIFTH STEP
If XST=F000 does not solve your problem then try XST=C000. The
QEMM-386 line of the config.sys should look like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m xst=c000

If XST=C000 does not work, go to Section Three. If XST=C000 does
work, go to the next step.

SIXTH STEP
If XST=C000 solves the problem then try placing the page frame
at C000. Do this only if the entire C segment is available to put
the page frame in. The QEMM-386 line of the config.sys should look
like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m fr=c000

If this works then this may be acceptable solution. All the address
space in which high ram can be created is being used in this
configuration. If this step does not work or, if you cannot put the
page frame at C000, go to the seventh step.

SEVENTH STEP
If XST=C000 solves the problem but you do not want to (or
cannot) put the page frame at C000 then try the parameter
FASTINT10:N, where "N" tells QEMM-386 to allow the video ROM's own
code to be used. By default QEMM-386 replaces some of the video
ROM's code with its own video code. This parameter tells QEMM to
use the ROM's code. The QEMM-386 line of the config.sys should look
like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m fastint10:n

If this works then all ROMs are being Stealthed. You may choose to
try the eighth step as an alternative though. If this does not
work, go to the next step. There is a further discussion of
FASTINT10 below.

EIGHTH STEP
If XST=C000 solves the problem but FR=C000 or FASTINT10:N does
not (or you cannot put the page frame at C000 or do not want to use
FASTINT10:N) then replace XST=C000 with X=C000-C7FF. The QEMM-386
line of the config.sys should look like:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=c000-c7ff

If this works, add the parameter FSTC to the QEMM-386 line, thusly:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=c000-c7ff fstc

and reboot. If this works continue; if this does not work (and
FSTC may not work in all circumstances) then remove the FSTC
parameter and reboot with the previous QEMM-386 line. See the
section about FSTC below for an explanation.
In either case, enter Manifest, go to the QEMM-386/Analysis
screen, and look at the Cn00 line. It should look something like
this:

Cn00 OIII IIII OOOO OOOO

This indicates that the first 4K region of the C segment, in the
video ROM, is being accessed directly. This portion of the address
space must be Excluded when QEMM-386 is Stealthing. The appropriate
QEMM-386 line in the config.sys is:

device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m x=c000-c0ff

SECTION THREE

NINTH STEP
On some machines there are other ROMs that can be Stealthed;
often these are disk ROMs. The same procedure: trying XST=??00,
then replacing it with the appropriate Exclude of the old kind
(X=??00-!!FF) to see if the problem is related to Stealthing or just
not having some portion of the ROM's address space directly
accessible, can be used. The trick of making the page frame begin
at the beginning of the disk ROM may also work here as well. If
XST=??00 solves your problem, try replacing it with FR=??00,
presuming that there is a 64K portion of the address space free
beginning at ??00 and that ?? is a multiple of 16. If some portion
of the address space must be Excluded for Stealth to work you should
check Analysis with the FSTC and X=??00-!!FF parameters on the QEMM
line.

TENTH STEP
Use XST=F000, XST=C000, XST=??00, and simultaneously for all
ROMs being Stealthed. Then replace the XSTs one by one with the
appropriate regular Exclude (X=F000-FFFF, X=C000-C7FF, X=??00-
!!FF...), look at the QEMM-386/Analysis screen of Manifest and
discover what portions of the address space need to be directly
available.

ELEVENTH STEP
If ST:M does not work try ST:F instead. If ST:F does not work
you should try ST:F XST=C000 (and XST=??00) for other Stealthed ROMs
other than the one(s) overlain by the page frame.

TWELFTH STEP
If none of these steps solve the problem please pin down
exactly what program is failing (and at what point), and file a
report with Quarterdeck.

INTERESTING QUESTIONS

WHAT IS FASTINT10:N?
QEMM-386, when Stealthing a video ROM, replaces some of the video
ROM's code with replacement code written by Quarterdeck. This
replacement code is suitable for most video cards. The FASTINT10:N
parameter tells QEMM-386 not to use its own replacement code but the
literal code of the video ROM. This in no way limits the amount of high
RAM Stealth creates and may be acceptable solution for those users who
need it. It should only be necessary on unusual video cards. If
placing the page frame at the beginning of the video card's ROM works or
if a small regular Exclude also solves the problem you may choose to use
this solution instead.

WHAT IS FSTC?
The purpose of the FSTC parameter is to make the Analysis procedure
accurate. Some system and video ROMs may not function properly with the
FSTC parameter. If this is the case on your system you will have to
perform the Analysis procedure without the FSTC parameter. However, you
should be aware in this case that some of the Exclude statements that
Analysis prompts you to use may not be necessary. You can try reducing
these Excludes on a trial-and-error basis if you wish.
When QEMM-386 Stealths a ROM certain tables may have to be stored
by QEMM-386 in its own data area. This uses a few kilobytes of high
RAM. When a ROM is being Stealthed but the address in which the ROM
resides is Excluded (as with X=C000-C7FF) then QEMM-386 cleverly figures
out that it does not need to make copies of these tables in its own data
area so it saves this memory by not making copies of the tables. This
means that when you do Exclude the portion(s) of the ROM where these
tables are stored the ROM will be accessed directly though it would not
be if it were not Excluded. This will cause Analysis to report that a
portion of the address space is OK when Excluded even though it would
not be accessed directly were it not Excluded.
FSTC (FORCESTEALTHTABLECOPY) forces QEMM-386 to make copies of
these tables so that inappropriate Excludes are not recommended for the
above reason. FSTC should only be used when you are testing a portion
of a ROMs address space for direct access by Excluding the whole ROM.
It is not an appropriate parameter for a final configuration.

WHAT ARE ADVANCED DISK FEATURES?
The BIOS has a set of function calls intended for use by
multitasking programs. These are Int 15, functions 90 and 91. The
system ROM or disk ROM may issue the Int 15, fn 90 call while it is
waiting for the disk controller to read or write a sector, allowing
other programs to execute during this wait. When the sector is
ready, the disk interrupt handler issues an Int 15, Fn 91, signaling
the multitasking program that the disk information is ready to be
processed by the system or disk ROM. Some disk caches hook this call to
allow your system to go ahead and execute your current program while the
system or disk ROM is waiting for its requested sector. Whereas these
caches preserve the stack and register state for the BIOS and the
application when doing this pseudo-multitasking, they do not preserve
the mapping of the page frame. Therefore, if the BIOS uses the page
frame itself (as does Stealth), this could generate conflicts and system
failures. Since no known disk cache does the proper page frame
preservation, QEMM automatically suppresses INT 15, function 90 calls
from the BIOS, effectively disabling advanced disk features. Caches
that save and restore the page frame when using advanced disk features
can use a programming interface to QEMM-386 to reenable advanced disk
features.
You may defeat QEMM-386's defeating of this feature with the
VIRTUALHDIRQ:N (VHI:N) parameter on the QEMM-386 line of the config.sys.
If your cache has these "Advanced Features" and does not save and
restore the page frame you will crash or corrupt data on the cached
drive(s).

WHAT IF I LOAD A DRIVER THAT USES ROM BEFORE QEMM-386?
If you want to load a device driver before QEMM-386 and it uses a
ROM then QEMM-386 can still Stealth this ROM if you load the driver
HOOKROM.SYS before this driver. Here is an example:

device=c:\qemm\hookrom.sys
device=c:\????????.sys
device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram st:m

WHY DOES MY SYSTEM SETUP NO LONGER COME UP WITH ST:M?
On machines with a built-in system setup program in the BIOS ROM
that can be popped up at any time Stealth may make this feature
inaccessible after you have booted. This is because the setup program
accesses the ROM directly. In order for it to work after QEMM-386 has
been loaded you must Exclude the portion of the address space where it
is stored. On most machines this is in F000-F7FF or thereabouts. You
may decide that it is better to use the system setup only on boot and be
able to use this portion of the address space for high RAM when you are
running. This is the way many systems are these days and you must
reboot to implement the changes anyway so you may consider this a fair
trade.
Machines with a setup program that loads as a regular program may
not present this problem.

WHAT IS GOING ON?
With ST:M Stealth is moving out of the address space all ROMs
accessed by means of interrupts (you can see what interrupts are being
handled by what ROMs in the First Meg/Interrupts screen of Manifest when
you are not Stealthing.) When these interrupts are asserted, QEMM-386
puts the ROM code that services the interrupt into the page frame. With
ST:F Stealth is allowing the page frame to share the address space used
by the ROM, making the underlying ROM code available in the page frame
when an interrupt pointing into the ROM is asserted.

HOW CAN IT FAIL?
The Stealth technology relies on the practice of using the code in
ROMs only by means of interrupts. With the exceptions listed below when
the code in a ROM is accessed directly the program or hardware using
this code (or information) will find high RAM there instead with ST:M
and will malfunction. Although this is not common it does happen.
Sometimes programs look for identification information: For video cards
this usually happens in the bottom 4K; for system BIOSes this usually
happens in FE00-FEFF. Most users for whom Stealth fails can recover
almost all the high RAM Stealth can create with small Excludes of this
kind.
Exceptions:

1) QEMM-386 does not map High RAM into the last 64 bytes of the
system BIOS ROM because they are commonly accessed directly.
Accesses here do not cause Stealth a problem.

2) When a ROM accesses itself directly then it should work IF the page
frame begins at this ROM's beginning address. There are some video cards
and disk controllers that fail because the video ROM (disk ROM) does not
tolerate relocation. The ready cure for this symptom is to put the page
frame at C000 (or whatever is the beginning of the appropriate video or
disk ROM) so that when an interrupt that points into the video ROM (disk
ROM) is asserted, and QEMM restores the contents of the video ROM (disk
ROM) into the page frame, the ROM code can access itself where it expects
to find itself; this is the purpose of step 6 of this method.

3) Direct accesses of one ROM to another work with ST:F.

Disk caches that write directly to and read directly from the page frame
cause Stealth to fail unless the DISKBUFFRAME=?? (DBF=??) is used.

Stealth relies on there being interrupts pointing into a ROM in order to
make it a target for Stealthing. If there is a ROM in the address space
that QEMM-386 cannot detect as being used then it will not be Stealthed.
This may happen for some disk ROMs and for devices that use the ROM only
upon initialization. If there is a ROM without an interrupt pointing
into it it is a suspect for being unused. You should use the Analysis
feature of QEMM-386 to discover if this ROM is being used at all. If it
is not then the address space it occupies may be reclaimed with an
INCLUDE.

SUMMARY
The Stealth technology has been exhaustively tested but the wide
variety of software and hardware in the PC world has surprises in it for
every program. The actual Stealthing of interrupts is very successful.
The most common failure is due to programs (or other ROMs) trying to
access a portion of the ROM directly, rather than by means of interrupt.
For this to work the target region of this access must be in the
address space at the time of access. This can be achieved by an
appropriate exclude of the old kind, usually at a cost of only 4K or 8K
of the additional high RAM Stealth is creating; see steps 3 through 11
for a procedure to figure these Excludes out. If the video ROM or
adaptor ROM is the target ROM of a problem then placing the page frame
over the video ROM or adaptor ROM may work; see step 6. The "Advanced
disk features" that some disk caches use are incompatible with Stealth.
QEMM-386 disables these by default whenever possible if Stealth is used.
Some disk caches write directly to the page frame. Such caches should be
told to use extended memory or the DISKBUFFRAME=?? (DBF=??) should be
used with QEMM-386; see step 2. If you have a problem intractable by
any of these means Quarterdeck would like to hear about it.

This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it
is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit.
Copyright (C) 1991 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
* * * E N D O F F I L E * * *